(Finance) – Il cabinet will approve a soon law decree on thepower to reform the domestic electricity and gas market, before the end of the protected market on January 10th. The confirmation came from the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin during a conference in Rome at the GSE on renewable energy communities, explaining that the decree “intervenes in the liberalization for families, at a time when there is no certainty that the geopolitical framework holds, and that therefore prices can be expected”.
The provision also provides for rules to identify the areas suitable for renewables and for thewind farm offshore, and will give municipalities the opportunity to self-nominate to host the national nuclear waste landfill. The decree law is almost ready in the offices of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, although some non-urgent parts could be presented in the form of a bill.
In fact, the January 10, 2024, the date on which the protected electricity and gas market will cease to exist, where prices are set by the public authority Arera. The users “under greater protection regime” (today one third of the total) will have to move to the free market, where the other two thirds are already served. Whoever does not do so will be awarded a operator automatically with the “Gradual protection service”, which will last another 3 years. The law decree aims to regulate this passage, inserting further protections for users, in a moment of international uncertainty and “fluctuating” gas prices.
Regarding the need to define the suitable areas for them renewable and for theoffshore wind, the minister underlined: “we must produce without devastating the territory”. On land, the minister explained, “an agreement has been reached with the Ministry of Culture for a minimum distance of 3 km of the plants from the town and for the installation of solar panels, and the question of agricultural areas is being defined”. At sea, however, “we evaluate how it is possible to insert large wind power platforms, up to 50×50 kilometres”.